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-You have to set up isles with exits on both sides otherwise the Customer AI will waddle back and forth against the shelving/corner forever.
-After 5 hours or play the monotony sets in as this is the rest of the game. At level 15 the last 'new' upgrade is restocker. They do not automate the process.
Problems with restockers
They can't 'unload the truck' per-say
-They need YOU to pick up the freight when it is shipped
-They need YOU to put it on the racks in storage
They don't do anything unless precisely dictated
-They can't mod shelves to put product out.
-If you remove product to mod a shelf with something else and their is overstock for it in the back they will waltz up and fill up the shelf you just cleared.
This is awkward. You can't unmod the shelf until it is clear of product. You need a specific sized box for different product to pull it back off the shelf. You sometimes cant throw down the box of product cus collision with shelving or bugged boxes won't let you throw them and dumdum comes up filling the shelf negating your efforts to manage a mod.

This game desperately needs some segmented organizing via a terminal interface for moding sections of the store for both product types/uniques/etc and pricing through that system.
The leveling system is a crawl. 2xp per purchase of shipped product. 5x per person sold to. not per item its per sale. multiple hundreds of xp for early game store level. multiple thousands for late game. The grind is massive.

It's fun to kill 5 hours. And probably worth $12. But it becomes mundane once you realize there is no QoL from stockmen like there is from cashiers. Cashiers might be slow but atleast they do what is expected of them.

Loading...
The host has not loaded or has already landed their ship.
An error occured!
ARE YOU SURE YOU AREN'T OFFLINE?
repeat x50

Finally get into a game. Play a round or 3.
Server host has disconnected.

Fix your net code and rework the server listing.
(Don't even get me started with the variable hell modded adds to this)

.hack//G.U. is at best mediocre
It performs well as a medium of story telling.
It fails as a game.

Put into perspective. This product is: 3 redistributed PS2 era games (Volumes) with a 4th (same PS2 game) added in for >4 hours of content.
06/2006-09/2007 Vol 1, 2 & 3 released.
A $15 humblebundle w/ Katamari Demacy (worth $10), Tales of Berseria (worth $30), this and other useless titles.
I essentially got paid to take this game & I feel like thats over paying.
It's an embarrassing re-release marathon of terrible/buggy design.

If this was an anime, 8/10 (with no fault to the cast)
This is a game thus, 2/10 (lazy format, creatively bankrupt game-play)

---Pros---
(Story critique)
Endurance's VA performance is top notch.
The story does a gj explaining character motives.
The cast are all well done.
The art aspects: decent for PS2 era looks.
World building with news/video was interesting.
Full rendered cut-scenes are decently executed
The unlocked/hidden art from forums was entertaining.
Extras in the main menu for explaining the previous .hack into this one was decent.
As was the VA's voicing gag reals/s---posts of various in-game cut-scenes.

(Game-play critique)
The 4th Vol. was concise. (<- yes, that's a pro)
The Enemy Placement/Patrols in Vol 4. was corrected by making Rooms bigger and giving room for A.I. to commit proper turns. (<- yes, that's a pro in comparison to some cons)
They polished up the 4th Vol. so it doesn't crash.
The Vol 4. music & new cutscenes styles were good.

---Cons---
(Story critique)
The premise of the story being tied to an unexplained or poorly explained phenomenon.
Errors/problems within this game go unchecked = the entire internet infrastructure of the world will stop functioning/break.
Some "kings game" esk logic
People will die in hospitals (because they're not on closed networks?)
Planes will crash (because the command towers control planes like RC cars?)
I assumed the stock market would reset to 0. (Apparently stocks weren't affected. Because the big bads in the CC Company need immunity from money loss. For plot reasons.)

(Game-play critique)
Oh boy. *long drawn out whistle*
(Bugs)
Vol 1. Vol 2. Vol 3. run on the same engine. There are minor band-aids applied to make features from 1-2 and 2-3 accessible but all the flaws carry over.
Because all 4 games run on the same slapped together engine.
-All 3 volumes experience crashes/lockups/freeze in all: city hubs (except netslum), cave/building dungeons, fields/plateaus, and some key event cut-scene areas.

-(Combat/etc)
Game works on a hit stun reliant factor. You hit enemy = enemy staggers/recoils = Enemy can't cast/can't attack. Doesn't effect 'big' enemies.
This works within a range of an enemy being +4 levels to your current level. This does not apply if the enemy is +5 of your current level.
-
--(Thorns/CC Effects)
Enemies can have a "Thorns" effect. Thorns, meaning - You hit enemy = You hitstun yourself = You stagger/can't combo. LvL doesn't matter.
Enemies can have a "Thorns Crowd Control" effect.
Here we go.
A "Thorns CC" effect meaning - You hit enemy = You sleep, paralyze, slow, curse (SP drain DoT), or seal (spell lock) yourself.
The upside to this is Crystallization (banish until broken by ally), Charm (loss of control, fight for the enemy), and Confusion (loss of control, fight both sides randomly) - are not applied to enemy thorns effects.
Crystallization was removed entirely due to a bug making it if an enemies cleave broke you, you were their ally permanently. Hardlocking the game.
Charm and confusion exist stand alone but are rarely used by the enemy.
- Atleast the decision team wasn't complete clowns.
Vol 1. has Anti-sleep 'enchant', Vol 2. Anti Paralysis. These are debatably mandatory until late Vol 3 due to a change in weaponry.
Without Anti-sleep, a string of enemies will have Thorns/Sleep, you'll be slept/immobile for 30 seconds, often until your party goes oom, dies, or you get AoE'd.

--(Never ending battles)
Some enemies have Healing abilities come in pairs and are able to constantly chain heal through sustainable damage endlessly
Enemies also have "Call for Help/Reinforcement" and constantly chain new enemies into the fight - hitstun does not interrupt the cast (skill triggers can if not on cooldown).
Vol 3. A Fair amount of Enemy groups mobs have "Call for Help/Reinforcement" & "Healing abilities" on the same mobs. Sometimes in pairs of 3s. With shielding. :]
^Perpetual, Never ending Trash. (Should be an area word. ecks dee)

--(Ranking System)
The rewards are consumables, armor, or a key word to throw into generating a new area ... to do the same garbage all over again.
There is no incentivisation to get a good rank.
Quite the opposite - Avoid trash, get to the objective of the story, gtfo, and save.
Take too long in an area the game has the looming threat of crashing.
Uncovering all the areas in a multi-floored dungeon, kick all dirt piles/barrels, open all chests, farm out 40 Chims, kill all the enemies from an angle they cant see you from. Sometimes impossible without a smoke screen.
Boring/drawnout criteria for uninspiring payout

--(Advancing the plot)
The games follow a format of repetition.
Intro is like 10-15 things, straight to the objectives, flows smooth.
Then repetition sets in.
1. Lets accept a quest 2. Lets do the quest 3. Log out and check your email.
Or conversely
1. Lets go sign up for the arena. 2. Lets do the arena. 3. Log out and check your email.
Every other 3rd sequential thing you do is "Log out and check your email" to advance the plot all throughout Vol 1. Vol 2. and Vol 3.
Begin each Volume, 10-15 smoothly streamlined things, 120 "x,y, log out and check your email", 10-15 smoothly streamlined things, End Volume.
Not even trying to hide how much they didn't give a damn. OS Simulator plug, yo.
Vol 3. Had a stint for a bit replacing "Check your email" with "Go to Outer area" to advance plot. Going to outer area meant Dungeon> Go to Outer Area> Get to last stretch of Outer Area. Could advance the plot once teleported. Nope. Gotta run past all the BS to advance the story becus padding.
-
Vol 4. They remove email with "Get to the end of the area and press RB." Yay...

--(Menuing)
Items tab caps at 90. Armor/Wep/Accessories tab caps at 90.
You collect useless trash until a toast window prompt explains "Bags full" and you need to swap out trash to collect this new trash or delete new trash.
Off to the shop, dump all the garbage... like 4 times throughout 3 volumes.
You want to use healing items? Want to used smoke screens? The map revealing item?
Boy howdy, I hope you feel like scrolling! Cus we don't save cursor placements, no sir.
Wanna revive that moronic A.I. partner that can't block or move out of a long telegraphed attack? You're going to be wading through a bunch of clutter each time you wanna bring back dumbdumb.
Wanna smoke screen terribly placed or bugged patrolling AI? Menu the day away down to that smoke screen in the middle of the pile.


--(Maps)
Dungeons. Hallway = skinny rectangle. Room = big rectangle. Slap a skin on it. DONE!
Fields. Bridge = skinny rectangle. Island = big rectangle. Island w/ hill Smaller rectangle inside big rectangle. Added ramp!? HOW INNOVATIVE. Slap a skin on
it. DONE!
Plateau. Bridge = skinny rectangle. "Mountain Island" = big rectangle. OwO, smart. "Mountain Island" w/ "Mountain" on "Mountain Island" Inaccessible smaller
rectangle within big rectangle. Mindblown.gif. Slap a skin on it. DONE!
Beautiful. It's so lazy it's poetic.

(Controls)
Must use controller.
Durrr. Can't code actions to mouse. 'O''K''L'';' = right stick is a good compromise, right?

($49.99 USD)
AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHHAHA *breathes* ... *breathes* AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAH~

I loved it on PS4 and platnium'd it.
The played the online for weeks and I loved the concept but the execution pissed me off as everyone not hosting lags about with a claymation, gumby like walk with every motion. Items devoured via spamming either have inputs ignored or spammed/consuming 2-4 times counting as one use to make it work.
From an execution stand point. This is not reputable or even passable. This is lazy.


Face it, this is a straight port with broken scripts & functions from said porting.
It was never refined from its original state where the online was the most complained about flaw and the fix everyone wanted.
Alot of obnoxious unskippable fluff, (mandatory 1m 40s wait to get to the title screen, everytime) intro or otherwise, is still left in and again unrefined.
The spaghettified mess that is the (2nd time) netcode - the main damn joke. I have to mention this twice. Fix it this time around.
The controller config is in no way setup to accommodate extra mouse inputs and keys or keybinds combining the 2.
That's not even mentioning the controller config in the game is non functional.
^Aside from getting to a save and going to the title where that menu works? Why?
If it's a copy and paste fix - COPY and Asterisk^6Apostrophe PASTE. Lazy!

The config files are useless. Both appdata & steam directory config/controller files, respectively, DO NOTHING to aid input binds.
It's gonna be like MGSV and 'quiet' all over again
Someones eventually gonna lead the solution to be a .pak decompiler to manually alter the setup for controls.
Among everything else in the game itself.

Why some much about the inputs? Cause it's a neccessity. How would you normally address controls?
Lemme guess, upon first movements you'd try to alter them to something desired. Okay, try that.
Seriously, buy the game, fire it up and try to change controls in the first area your able to.

You will soft lock your game. You heard me.

The beginning/tutorial is a cloned version of the training grounds (city hub building).
Menuing is disabled without your knowledge but a script is still active from those training grounds.
You'll try hitting all the buttons to open the menu - q, tab, e, esc, enter AND BAM. Your stuck here.
The script to refresh the training grounds is still active (enter). The refresh deletes the flag to advance through the intro.
Remember those 20-25 minutes of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ from booting the game till this point?
You have to Alt+F4 and sit through 13 minutes total of an unskipable mess mixed with spam through the rest of BS to get back here.
What a great way to solidfy 2 hours of game time.

Why not play on a controller? I've done the entire game on my PS4. I want to do it again for PC, proper.
Why is it that controllers can keybind R2 and X to do a power attack, slide or wtf ever - But, God forbid, you can't keybind Shift & MB1 for a power attack or Shift & W for a slide.

What I'm most upset about is the (3rd time now) Online gameplay, the netcode, the gumby lag rubberbanding eyesore. I wanted to play this online on PC in hopes that the PC version would have come with a fix. I put that in my beta app."Nov 28th 17, I believe PC can mend the rubberbanding in co-op and perfect the online game play." Nothing came of it.

Completely ignored, nothing to show for it. I don't care I didn't get in the beta.
I've reported to IF on MDNVII with examples; pics videos and specs to fix the flicker issues.
And it was fixed 2 months after I bought it. Of which then I could enjoy the game. But this pissed me off.

An entire year and change has passed since this games initial release and this is still THEE main ignored concern amongst this ♥♥♥♥ show.
02-2017 JPN, 10-2017 US/EU, 02-2018 PC - and PC not only gets treated LAST, on the concept were all a bunch of ♥♥♥♥♥ conartists that pirate, but also We get no refinement, no accommodating customizations, not even a fleshed out testing to pass the tutorial... just face rolled keybinds and hurr bind x&o to MB1,MB2.

I will change my review to a positive review and tone down the salt when: the netcode ATLEAST is OPENLY ADDRESSED, if not fixed, by staff. - and options to make keybinds for MOUSE and KEYBOARD and COMBOS of the 2 are applied.

TL;DR?
PC got fiddled
This games previous problems were/are neglected.
Plenty of time passed to rectify. Nothing was done.
Enjoy the tutorial softlock.
Amazing game. Much needed upkeep.

To everyone and myself raging about Keyboard and Mouse controls.

"Click play in the steam library then select the launch configuration tool to change to keyboard lol."

A user by the name of Lawbringree^

The launch delay was dumb as hell but the game is good. Not knowing about the configuration tool made the first chapter QTE's a pain in the ♥♥♥ but thats over now. Thank you, guy who spreads good info. My frustration is gone.

Over all the game is enjoyable. The content has been entertaining and arouses inquisition. Might add more later.

If there isn't substantial PvE based content and it's all PvP, spoon feeding a half assed experience to one another, then it isn't worth the investment.
Grind/steal for weeks on end to do 30 minutes of PvP w/ the added element of human stupidity.
All these to forever be in Early Access "Beta" sandbox survival games are trash.

The only true venue for soloplay is to "host a server/be an admin" abusing normal boundries.
Or get your cheats on: clip through walls, steal/spawn stuff, and go to town.
Either option makes you a ♥♥♥♥, worsening the experience for actual players in a poorly executed game.

Enjoy game changing revisions killing solo playstyle every other update, useless in game item recolor purchases, and it never becoming a worthwhile fully released game.

Noire plays the protagonist with the backstory as the leader of a nation of power, gaining surrounding territory under it's banner, and warring with other nations that as well are warring with other nations. Take all the things

The game establishes/hints that this is not the original world Gamindustri but Gamarket, the CPU's have never met outside a battlefield, and the main antagonist had yet to make herself known.

The story takes a turn where Noire's good intentions lead the world into chaos, following a strangers advice to make a wish on a Sharacite rock to unite the world which *plothole* somehow removes all the population of her city and replaces them with monsters.

Somehow drained of all strength/faith she is attacked by the weakest monster in the series, is about to accept death and get dead. x_x. Slime fetishes, ahoy But, oh shi-, someone was in transit to the town after everyone mysteriously wrote themselves out of existence.

Deus ex machina plug, the someone is "Player", and opposed to picking up a brick and clocking trash mobs he instead grabs the hand ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) of the broad (noire) and leads her to safety. One monologue later, Noire's faith is restored.

The fodder mobs catch up, Noire pulls her head out from between her cheeks and proceeds to do what noire usually does. After the stabbening, she clues "Player" in on her being the CPU of this nation.

After a session of "Player" feigning retardation, he explains he came looking for a jerb, Noire offers "Player" a jurb, and he hurk a durr. Now he is "Secretary".
Thus the story to dominate save Unite the world begins.

Hyper Devotion Noire is a Strategy RPG where you move along a grid and proceed with the turn based combat.
Enemies drop 1-2 (3?) varied items under certain conditions/luck.
Chests are over a majority of the maps
Elemental Chests open to 1 of 4 element affix attacks. Rock, Paper, Scissors
Aquire and fight as characters you unlock progressing throughout the story. 22 in the main game. 26 w/ DLC.
Destructive and humorous - ultimates and abilities.
Resta, Poona, Wac... God tier, Carpet bomb, Aoe. Hot damn. Poona Ult \(^o^)/
For a strat rpg, it plays pretty good.
The main story feels pretty well tuned. You don't have to venture off the beaten path to grind xp between most of the main missions.
The difficulty curve seems to make a ♥♥♥♥ move when you get to the very end. The 'enemy' attacks twice in one turn. Wipes out half your team after each turn. You spam revival items/spells and use 1 heavy hitter.
You beat them. OH THIS ISNT EVEN MY FINAL FORM Should have been expected. 10 levels higher than previous. Kills everyone in 1 turn... Go grind, scrub. ..!.
*Note, even at 99 in best gear. Some still get killed in 1 cycle, because the game says so.


2 mission lists to go through.
Mission list - Story missions followed by optional missions.
Simulation - Repeat past Story missions
You can complete each mission 2-3 times for different plans/items. The mission's will never have plans hidden in chests, only materials to make them.
Basilicom - Sim noire.
-Guess the right answers and buy all the upgrades for an added cutscene to the ending.
-Gold sink/added goal.
Item Dev. - Use drops to make useitems or Farm your life away to make weapons and armor and rings, Oh my. And cpu suits.
CPU hotel - View cutscenes gained through lily ranks of acquired generals or unlocked past events, music, and photos.
The side tasks can get reaaaally grindy.
But the slapstick, story/cinematics, goofy side shenanigans are the main reason I get IF games.


Attempting 100% getting all the plans and crafting them is made to be an extreme time sinking chore. 2nd to last optional mission 10 times for 10x of 1 thing. Countless of the last 4 for a majority of the end stuff. It gets repetitive really quick.
The lily rank achievement's are an unapologetic, waving of the middle finger in your face, kinda task. Math - 23 characters total: choose 1 character, have them buff while circled by 4 others, repeat 100 times, now another set of 4 until all 22 are at 100 rank with that character. 22 Left, choose 1 character repeat, repeat, repeat until all are done.
Completing the mission animation, selecting a mission with atleast 5 slots, leaving one enemy left alive, and starting the cycle. 120 seconds (2m).
Casting 100 buffs with the center character. 10 seconds from turn start, buff, to next turn start. 1000 seconds (16m 40s)
6 cycles for the 22-21, 5 for 20-17, 4 for 16-13, 3 for 12-9, 2 for 8-5, 1 for 4-2.
71 Full cycles of 1120 seconds = 79520 seconds (22h 5m 20s)
22 hours.
Whoever is in charge of the goofy background shtick for what you can do in this game for achievements I don't care for you. It's asking for far too much.

I was kinda thrown off that their DLC as weaponry/armor being best in slot for every character. They haven't done that before with nep games. Even when their was item DLC in prior nep games, it was a whoopin stick that you could replace with an actual item in the game making the DLC non mandatory to achieve that level of strength.
Differently balanced characters? Yes, but thats added playable content, maybe with a scene scheme or 2. Recolored weaponry with the best stats? That threw me for a loop. Usually not the norm.

That aside.
Strategy RPG. Feels like it should be a handheld game. Ported from a handheld game. Makes sense.
The matches can drag on for an excess amount of time. Some of the missions are guantlets of 2 - 4 matches before clearing. The quick save feature is nice.
Nothing against the game in all it's glory. I've had a bias against Grid based RPGs (some can do it poorly), but since IF Nep series took a stab at this genre, I was willing to jump in and it didn't suck.
Even with that, I still dont care for the genre. You move a 'piece' at a time, prep the placement, hand over the turn, wait for each npc to pingpong the camera about and each do a thing individually. Repeat till goals complete. It only feels like a chore when its a long winding path, with bridge triggers, that takes moving 7 people through a dozen turns to get from a - b.

They didn't do anything wrong, but there is definately room for polish in the system, even in a completely different area like the cinematics and sound.
The layers in the faces of the characters animation cycle bleed through their masks, so you'll see the top and bottom of a 2nd eye hole/lid/lash thats just set to blink when they're staring.
Or when closed you can see the white of the eyes bleeding through the edge of the lid mask.
The music was not cut to loop seemlessly - it's just a jarring stop and start over.
Would be nice if some of the settings worked properly too, like windowed mode. You must drag to resize the window manually everytime you start the game. The screen resolution option does nothing. Windowed startup will always default to 1280x720.

But yea, it's a port. So.. ♥♥♥♥ it. Yeah? Forgiven.

Cons.
-Minor polish issues.
--♥♥♥♥ move at the end curve.
-Windowed screen resolution presets do not work.
--A reason to hate achievements.
-A lack of plutia

Fun facts. You can forcibly crash the game by toggling Tiara's HDD mode in the characterinfo screen.

Pros.
-Nep game
--Decent combat system
-All the shenanigans that comes with neptune games.
--Decent adventure/story
-5 decent dlcs
--Blanc's Rage

It's pretty good. Go for it.

Gist:
You get Sting, Sting's rep, a melee.

Long:
Sting comes in to play after a couple new cutscenes and missions. She has good mobility. Fair range and buffing abilities.

As with all dlc character. They add their own bit to the story when they are introduced up until they are in your party. They do not add to the original story beyond that.

Recommend this dlc for content and reasons. Hat

Arbitrary nerd stats.

Weapon

Holy Sword Sting Starter Weapon

Gran Centurio 1st Upgrade (Item Dev.)

2nd Upgrade (Item Dev.)

Armor

Silk Corset Starter Armor

Archebangle - End Game Stock Armor *Melee 50,000g)
Eternal Protection End Game Grind Armor *Melee (Item Dev.)

1st Upgrade (Item Dev.)

Gist:
You get Compa, Compile Heart's rep, a mobile healer/caster.

Long:
Compa comes in to play after a couple new cutscenes and missions. She has good mobility. Magic, healing and dispelling abilities.

As with all dlc character. They add their own bit to the story when they are introduced up until they are in your party. They do not add to the original story beyond that.

Recommend this dlc for content and reasons

Arbitrary nerd stats.

Weapon

Test Potion Starter Weapon

Alkaloid 1st Upgrade (Item Dev.)

2nd Upgrade (Item Dev.)

Armor

Compa's Bandage Starter Armor

Archearmlet - End Game Stock Armor *Caster 50,000g)
Twin Bangle End Game Grind Armor *Caster (Chest Drop)

1st Upgrade (Item Dev.)

Gist:
You get Iffy, Idea Factory's rep, a very mobile melee/caster.

Long:
Iffy comes in to play after a couple new cutscenes and missions. She has high mobility and high jump, so she can reach almost every place Tiara can. Straight damage, magic, and buff abilities. Has a lot of utility getting from a - b.

As with all dlc character. They add their own bit to the story when they are introduced up until they are in your party. They do not add to the original story beyond that.

Recommend this dlc for content and reasons.

Arbitrary nerd stats.

IF (iffy)

Qatar Starter Weapon

Bloody Claw 1st Upgrade (Item Dev.)

2nd Upgrade (Item Dev.)

Armor

Cell Phone Strap Starter Armor

Archebangle - End Game Stock Armor *Melee 50,000g)
Eternal Protection End Game Grind Armor *Melee (Item Dev.)

1st Upgrade (Item Dev.)